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The institution of the family, which preceded the Fall of man and remained after the Fall, for the well-being  of the human race, is the institution most protected by God's law and is the very pattern by which we understand both our relationship to God as Father, and the creational model by which the Church is governed. We further see this centrality by the fact that in scripture, four of the Ten Commandments immediately concern the family (not the church or state) because the family controls welfare, property, education, inheritance, children, and cares for the aged. It is viewed as the basic government and consequently, when it is eroded or weakened, the social fabric of any society moves swiftly to decay regardless of what the State tries to do to  replace it…Without healthy and godly Christian families, all of society moves toward ruin. There is no social substitute for the family, in either Church or State, so the Church today must labour to train, protect and equip the family

A man was walking then he came across a house,  where he saw the owner of the house, Barney, breaking a large hole in the wall of an old cellar. So he asked him, ‘what are you doing’? The answer of Barney was prompt, ‘Sir, I'm letting out the dark’.  We spend much time and energy  in the same foolish idea. We attack the dark, instead of putting all our powers into the glorious work of letting in the light. Whether the darkness is uncivilised ignorance, or infidel prejudice, let us shine in the light of the glorious Gospel, and the darkness will fly. WILLIAM LUFF 

Sometimes a builder has to  pull down a house and take it apart in pieces. His job is not to pull down houses, but to build them up. But he does that which is not his job  that he may do his main job. He cannot build on a rotten foundation. In the same way, God will not  build on a rotten foundation. He will not build upon carnal confidence, carnal trust, pride and covetousness. He must first  demolish our rotten foundation with afflictions and sufferings. He uses  these things to take away any happiness we have in our trust of sin. God uses suffering and pain     to force us away from our sins. He demolishes the rotten foundation, to build up a more excellent building that shall endure to eternity….He does that work which is not his main job, to do his main     blessed good work. He afflicts us to drive us out of ourselves, so that we can trust in him, in whom is all our true happiness and good. RICHARD SIBBES  (Paraphrased from ‘The Works of Richard Sibbes’, Volume III )

Self-centredness  is the curse of the human race since men fell. What most of us need above everything else is to get away from ourselves, to forget ourselves. But we revolve around ourselves. We are  the centre of our universe.  We are always looking at ourselves. We judge and evaluate everything in terms of us. What it means to me and what it does to me.  All our rivalries,  bitterness and jealousies come out of that. It is true of individuals and  nations alike.  In addition to this is our  selfishness.  The wanting  everything for the self. The self-centred man or woman is always selfish. Feeding this self, pandering to it, wanting it to obtain things, and wanting others not to have it. We do everything to  build up and to satisfy this horrid, terrible self, which governs us and which controls us.  All that leads, of course, to being  sensitive. We   see  insults where they are not meant, and where  indeed they very often do not exist. We are hyper   sensitive.  Always afraid someb

The prayer of the morning will determine the day. Wasted time, which we are ashamed of, temptations that beset us, weakness and listlessness in our work, disorder and indiscipline in our thinking and our relations with other people very frequently have their cause in neglect of the morning prayer. The organisation and distribution of our time will be better for having been rooted in prayer. The temptations which the working day brings with it will be overcome by this breakthrough to God. Decisions which our work demands will be simpler and easier when they are made, not in the fear of men, but solely in the presence of God. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Col. 3:23). Even routine mechanical work will be performed more patiently when it is done with the knowledge of God and His command. Our strength and energy for work increase when we have prayed to God to give us the strength we need for our daily work. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER ( Source : Lif

God exercises wisdom in permitting afflictions  and in removing afflictions. He is wise to suit his medicine to the condition of our disease. He cannot mistake the nature of our disease, or the  virtue of his remedy. Like a skilful Doctor, God sometimes prescribes bitter potions , and sometimes cheering cordials, according to the strength of the malady,  and necessity of the patient, to bring him to health. Everything that comes  from God  is for our good. He does not do anything in a rash and reckless way. His wisdom is as infinite as his goodness, and as exact in managing as his goodness is plentiful in streaming out to us. God understands our griefs, weighs our necessities, and no remedies are beyond the reach of his skilful planning. When our feeble intelligences are bewildered in a maze, and at the end of their line for a rescue, the remedies unknown to us are not unknown to God. When we do not know how to prevent a danger, the wise God has a thousand blocks to lay in the way. Whe